Watch: Kesha Releases Video for Emotional Ballad 'Rainbow'

Kesha is back. And 'Rainbow' was worth the wait. That's the consensus about Kesha's first album since 2012, out Friday on Kemosabe Records/RCA Records.

In a four-star review, Rolling Stone calls 'Rainbow' "the best music of her career," while Entertainment Weekly gives the album an A- and proclaims it "an artistic triumph."

Billboard describes lead single "Praying" as a "ballad that tears at your soul" while Consequence of Sound says "no other song in recent memory so perfectly embodies the way in which hope itself is a kind of triumph."

Other reviewers have highlighted songs including "Hymn," a "powerful outsider anthem" (Rolling Stone); the "feminist battle cry" (Mic) of "Woman"; "Hunt You Down," which PopCrush describes as "far more authentic than anything currently playing on country radio"; and "Learn to Let Go," "the most carefree, uplifting song we've heard from her" (Jezebel).

Kesha released "Learn to Let Go" this week, the third advance track from her upcoming album "Rainbow" out August 11 on Kemosabe Records/RCA Records, setting the stage for the new album, her first since 2012.